1 December 2021

THE M A N I T O B A N graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff

since 1914

Current strik ea tipping point for U of M’s futur e A human by any other name

Something’s fishy

Decolonizing ancient hominins

PCs should direct judgement about pollution inward

p. 6

p. 11

Sad, sensational and sinister

Just keep swimming

Remounting Shakespeare’s Will

Bisons excel at swimming championship

Vol. 108

p. 13

p. 15

THE OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA STUDENTS’ NEWSPAPER

Iss. 15

the

est. 1914

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ? editor@themanitoban.com Ty Brass

TOBAN

MANI THEMANITOBAN.COM 109 HELEN GLASS BUILDING

BUSINESS MANAGER ? accounts@themanitoban.com Cindy Nguyen

UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

ADVERTISING CO-ORDINATOR ? ads@themanitoban.com Diego Castro

204. 474. 6535

MANAGING EDITOR ? me@themanitoban.com Sarah Doran

COPY DESK ? copy@themanitoban.com Ursula Chojko-Bolec (ed.)

Evan MacNeil NEWS DESK ? news@themanitoban.com Cam Cannon, Liam Forrester (eds.)

Colton McKillop Dimitar Tomovski RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY DESK ? research@themanitoban.com Michael Campbell (ed.)

Emma Rempel COMMENT DESK ? comment@themanitoban.com Lucas Edmond (ed.)

ARTS & CULTURE DESK ? arts@themanitoban.com Shaylyn Maharaj-Poliah (ed.)

Alex Braun Zoë LeBrun Grace Paizen SPORTS DESK ? sports@themanitoban.com Matthew Merkel (ed.)

Isaiah Wagner PHOTO DESK ? photo@themanitoban.com Basel Abdelaziz (ed.)

Mohammad Arsalan Saeed DESIGN DESK ? design@themanitoban.com Matthew Doering (ed.)

Mikaela Warkentin GRAPHICS DESK ? graphics@themanitoban.com Dallin Chicoine (ed.)

Marina Djurdjevic AUDIO DESK ? audio@themanitoban.com applications open, see themanitoban.com/jobs SOCIAL MEDIA DESK ? social@themanitoban.com Jalene Moman, Molly Smyth (eds.)

Audra Ashley

WINNIPEG, MB

The Manitoban is an independent and democratic student organization, open to participation from all students. It exists to serve its readers as students and citizens.

The Manitoban is a member of the Canadian University Press, and our journalistic standards can be found online at toban.news/jsp.

The newspaper’s primary mandate is to report fairly and objectively on issues and events of importance and interest to the students of the University of Manitoba, to provide an open forum for the free expression and exchange of opinions and ideas and to stimulate meaningful debate on issues that affect or would otherwise be of interest to the student body and/ or society in general. The Manitoban serves as a training ground for students interested in any aspect of journalism.

Research & Technology

pages 5 to 6

Editorial

page 8

Comment

pages 10 to 12

Arts & Culture

pages 13 to 15

Sports

pages 15 to 16

Students and other interested parties are invited to contribute to any section of the newspaper.

Please contact the appropriate editor for submission guidelines.

The Manitoban reserves the right to edit all submissions and will not publish any material deemed by its Editorial Board to be discriminatory, racist, sexist, homophobic or trans-phobic, ableist or libellous.

Opinions expressed in letters and articles are solely those of the authors. Editorials in the Manitoban are signed and represent the opinions of the writer(s), not necessarily those of the Manitoban staff, Editorial Board or the publisher.

A “volunteer staff” member is defined as a person who has had three volunteer articles, photographs or pieces of art of reasonable length and/ or substance published in the current publishing year of the Manitoban.

VOLUNTEER STAFF ?

Ivan Nuñez Gamez , Emily Unrau-Poetker

interested in volunteering? email me@themanitoban.com today!

All contents are ©2021 and may not be reprinted without the express written permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

Vol. 108

pages 3 to 5

The Manitoban is the official student newspaper of the University of Manitoba. It is published monthly during the summer and each week of regular classes during the academic year by the Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation.

Any individual who qualifies as a volunteer staff member must be voted in by a majority vote at a Manitoban editorial board meeting. Elected representatives and non-students may be excluded from holding votes as volunteer staff members in accordance with the Manitoban Constitution.

VOLUNTEERS THIS ISSUE ?

News

1

December

2021

Iss. 15

the

MANI

TOBAN

Dec. 1, 2021

Petition for inclusive health care to be read in legislature Grassroots organization secured some 300 signatures NEWS

Cam Cannon, staff Healthcare For All, a coalition made up of 15 grassroots organizations, called for Manitoba’s health-care program to be expanded to include international students, migrant workers, refugees and undocumented people at a press conference last Thursday.

The coalition has collected some 300 signatures for a petition that is to be read to the legislative assembly

by NDP members including Uzoma Asagwara and Jamie Moses.

Canadian Federation of Students Manitoba campaign coordinator Judith Oviosun argued it is unacceptable that people such as international students, migrant workers and others of precarious status currently do not have equal access to publicly funded health care in the province.

“We also do not believe that a tiered system or private health insurance is a substitute for health care in Manitoba,” she said.

The group also wants any legislation expanding health care to be protected from repeal by future governments, as well as the development of policies and training to ensure that those with precarious immigration status are protected during interactions with the health-care system.

In 2018, the provincial government revoked international students’ access to the publicly funded healthcare system, leaving students to seek private insurance.

The move was expected to save the government $3.1 million.

“If you asked me, I would say this is just plain discrimination and we should just see this policy for what it is, as being racist,” Oviosun said.

representative Tolani Olanrewaju discussed how health care is not an issue that has two sides: it is an issue where people deserve access.

coverage periods — finishing up at the International College of Manitoba and set to begin studies at the U of M — when he entered the hospital.

She discussed her experience over the summer of experiencing delays in receiving results from a CT scan, possibly due to having private insurance rather than public.

He appealed to his insurance provider, but they ultimately ruled that his condition was pre-existing and his medical costs were ineligible for coverage.

Olanrewaju was initially told she would receive her results within two to three days, but after months came and went, she finally asked about the cause for the delay — and was informed it could have something to do with having private insurance.

“Though he could not be here in person today, Calvin is hoping that his message reaches all of us and instills hope,” said Koslock.

Canadian Federation of Students Manitoba chairperson Alexandra Koslock delivered some remarks on behalf of Calvin Lugalambi.

“The government is single-handedly picking and choosing which Manitobans should have access to health care and who shouldn’t.”

During the summer of 2021, Lugalambi, a University of Manitoba student, found himself saddled with $123,000 of medical debt following a lengthy hospital stay during which he contracted COVID-19.

UMSU

Lugalambi was between insurance

international

community

“Despite what happened to Calvin though, he recognizes all of the medical staff at both hospitals […]

Calvin wants his story to be a beacon of hope, to revive the conversation of health care for all here in Manitoba.

His situation could have been avoided or different if health care for international students and all peoples on these territories were accessible.”

news@themanitoban.com

NDP demand inquiry into province’s pandemic response Wab Kinew: If PCs don’t investigate, an NDP government will NEWS

Colton McKillop, staff As part of the official opposition’s alternative throne speech, Manitoba’s New Democratic Party (NDP) is requesting an independent inquiry into the provincial government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on the government’s approach to health care.

If the government does not submit to an inquiry, NDP leader Wab Kinew promised to initiate one should his party win the next provincial election in 2023.

“We need to have an inquiry that is independent, that is going to be willing to ask some tough questions,” he said in the speech.

“But most importantly, to bring back some recommendations for the future.”

According to the NDP, the proposed inquiry would examine provincial decisions that contributed to Manitoba’s higher infection and death rates, causing bigger outbreaks, longer lockdowns and more stress for health-care workers.

In addition to “[examining] decisions made during the pandemic,” NDP MLA and Critic for Health, Seniors

and Active Living Uzoma Asagwara said the inquiry should scrutinize the government’s actions in the years before COVID-19 hit.

“One example would be the cut to ICU capacity and the cut to ICU beds leading up to the pandemic, which we all know contributed to the fact that in the third wave, we sent out 57 Manitobans to other jurisdictions to receive life-saving interventions,” Asagwara said.

“We essentially set the precedent across the country for having to do so during this pandemic and unfortunately we saw some heartbreaking outcomes as a result of our healthcare system lacking the ICU capacity within our own jurisdiction. We saw tragic outcomes for Manitobans who , as a result of their own government’s refusal to invest, [were] sent away.”

A Winnipeg Free Press investigation of the province’s health-care cuts published last month found the government pushed through the plan without a risk assessment and little consultation with nurses.

In addition to reducing the number of ICU beds in Winnipeg from 76 to 63, the province slashed hundreds of health-care jobs, shut down several emergency rooms and quick-care

clinics and cut $1 million in funding for personal-care homes, leaving the province with severely reduced capacity and staffing shortages in the years leading up to the pandemic.

Manitoba has the second-highest COVID-19 death rate in Canada behind Quebec.

Asagwara pointed out health-care professionals raised “alarm bells” about the province’s lack of capacity well before the pandemic and requested increased funding.

“Had the government listened to those voices […] leading up to this pandemic, then we wouldn’t have been […] in the position we’ve been in throughout the pandemic, where we are [facing] an unprecedented healthcare, human resources and staffing shortage crisis,” they said.

The NDP’s alternative throne speech also pointed out the pandemic has exacerbated issues of housing access, addiction and mental illness.

Asagwara said addressing the “social determinants of health” to facilitate positive health outcomes was a “foundational principle” of public health.

“What we actually saw [during the pandemic] was the government actively working against addressing those needs,” they argued.

Asagwara pointed out negative health outcomes “directly correlate” with homelessness and overcrowded housing, where it is more difficult to practice social distancing or quarantine while sick.

“I believe we can all look and see that not addressing housing accessibility, housing security and housing safety directly correlate with people during this pandemic having terrible health outcomes,” they said.

“The importance of the social determinants of health is monumental.”

The NDP in Alberta and Ontario have also demanded inquiries into the way their conservative governments handled the pandemic.

Asagwara said it is “clear that there’s a lot to be learned from this pandemic.”

“There is a lot of reflecting and assessment and evaluation [that] should be done in order […] to learn from what happened in this pandemic in terms of decisions that were made and the impacts of those decisions, in order to make sure that we’re better prepared in the future to face any crisis or challenge that may present itself again.”

news@themanitoban.com

3

the

est. 1914

MANI

TOBAN

UMSU endorses binding arbitration in UMFA strike SSUMFA says endorsement ‘unnecessary’ NEWS

Colton McKillop, staff UMSU passed a motion Nov. 22 endorsing binding arbitration to resolve the UMFA strike.

The motion, brought forward by UMSU executives, was amended to address UMFA’s non-monetary concerns, which were initially not included in the proposal.

Professors’ choice of whether to teach online or in-person and the requirement to teach three terms in a row without a break were among the non-monetary issues in the amendment.

UMSU president Brendan Scott said the student union supported UMFA in the strike, but after three weeks with no end in sight, the executives “felt it [was] necessary to support something new.”

“Given the internal talks with the administration, we knew that this was the mediator’s decision at the bargaining table to say that [binding arbitration] is the last thing that can move this thing forward,” he explained, referencing the mediator’s final recommendation of binding arbitration on Nov. 26.

“All

other

avenues

[have]

been

exhausted and this was pretty much the final thing that both the administration and the faculty could do to end the strike.”

In a Twitter thread posted Monday night, Students Supporting UMFA (SSUMFA) said UMSU’s exclusion of governance issues from the initial draft of the motion demonstrated their “lack of commitment” to UMFA’s cause.

SSUMFA said UMSU did not consult with the faculty association before bringing the motion forward and argued UMSU was trying to pressure the faculty association into “premature arbitration without ensuring that non-monetary concerns are accounted for and upheld.”

SSUMFA invited UMFA president Orvie Dingwall to the UMSU board meeting and they convinced the executives to include the amendments after more than two hours of debate.

Speaking on behalf of SSUMFA, Dario Duque Giraldo, a representative of UMSU’s Arts Student Body Council, said endorsing binding arbitration before governance issues are resolved would have been the “wrong decision.”

“Many of the directors of UMSU such as myself, Jaron Rykiss and Hannah Belec believe that this isn’t just a fight for the now, it’s a fight for the future as well,” he said.

“If those […] governance issues aren’t resolved […] before agreeing to binding arbitration, it’s going to basically end up being strike after strike, year after year, and we need to think about the future of the students, not just about wanting to end the strike right now, because it’s just not sustainable.”

According to SSUMFA, they were only given a two-hour notice of the motion before it was debated and voted on.

“At that point in time on Monday, we hadn’t heard from UMFA [about] what they wanted and why they didn’t directly accept binding arbitration,” explained Giraldo.

Scott disputed this characterization, however, saying, “UMFA was consulted, we knew their opinion on the matter.”

“It was on Saturday that UMSU was told that the mediator had suggested binding arbitration and we understood that it would come forward on the Sunday or the Monday, and so we booked to hopefully have the emergency meeting on the Monday,” Scott explained.

“The reason for the quick turnaround was to hopefully avoid scenario 3, which started on Wednesday. We felt that if UMSU could support the mediator’s [recommendation] of binding arbitration, given the fact that binding arbitration would immediately end the strike [...] then we would be able to avoid scenario 3, thus avoiding a lot of complaints that students had over scenario 3 and 4.”

Scenarios 3 and 4 are the schedules for interrupted classes proposed by the administration, which would push the start of the winter break to Christmas Eve. Giraldo said the executives’ endorsement of binding arbitration was “unnecessary.”

“Saying ‘UMFA and admin need to go into binding arbitration just to end the strike,’ which was basically the reason for the executives to propose this motion […] was not what needed to be done at the time,” he said.

“Obviously if both parties agree to full-on binding arbitration, it would end the strike immediately, classes would resume and everything would be great and happy, but that’s not the reality of [the situation].” news@themanitoban.com

Extension requested for Winnipeg police funding model NEWS

Dimitar Tomovski, staff The question of how to fund the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) is winding its way through the Winnipeg city council.

In a Nov. 17 executive policy committee regular meeting, the city’s chief financial officer and WPS Funding Working Group requested a 120-day extension in order to conduct public engagement on the Winnipeg police funding model.

The executive policy committee’s motion was then taken to the Nov. 25 Winnipeg city council regular meeting where the motion was carried unanimously.

St. James City Councillor and Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Finance Scott Gillingham clarified the reason for the delay.

the new year, but the goal remains the same: to try and establish a formula by which police budgets can be set so that there is funding certainty for the police service, for council and for members of the public.”

James Wilt, a member of police abolitionist group Winnipeg Police Cause Harm, was critical of the need for an extension.

“The city of Winnipeg’s failure to produce a report on the financial sustainability of policing is perfectly indicative of its entire approach to completely unchecked police power,” he wrote in an email.

“It’s partly because of COVID-19 and all the restrictions on meeting […] it’s taken longer to get the public feedback for that process to be finalized,” he said.

“Despite having by far the largest budget of any city department — spending well over $300 million this year, equivalent to more than one-quarter of the operating budget, along with the additional $7.3 million to make up for police overspending — the city pretends to have no control or jurisdiction over this, appealing to the toothless police board for oversight.”

“The report was not ready at this moment. It will come sometime in

Wilt also discussed the adverse effects of money being allocated to police

4

over poverty reduction strategies.

“The crisis of poverty and homelessness is intrinsically related to police spending, with the constant criminalization and abuse of people — mostly poor and Indigenous — directly undermining people’s access to housing, employment and community supports,” he said.

“Further, the ever-growing police budget means that actual solutions to poverty like public housing, harm reduction, food security, public transit, free and accessible mental health supports, 24/7 safe spaces and non-violent crisis intervention are considered impossible to fund.”

Councillor Gillingham disputed the claim that the police budget comes at the expense of poverty reduction.

“Right now there’s no direct link between [police funding and poverty reduction] in one sense. In another sense though, police services — in fact, Winnipeg emergency services — do respond to a lot of calls for service where individuals are people experiencing poverty.

“A lot of time, police respond because a 911 call comes, but it’s not always a

photo / Mohammad Arsalan Saeed / staff

More time for public feedback needed due to COVID-19 pandemic

case that the police are the service that the individual needs. So that’s why there’s got to be a very coordinated effort between the city of Winnipeg, the province of Manitoba and departments of the city to make sure that when the call for service comes, the right agency is responding to that call for service.” news@themanitoban.com

the

TOBAN

MANI

Dec. 1, 2021

U of M vice-president (external) resigns NEWS

Dimitar Tomovski, staff In a statement to his colleagues at the U of M, vice-president (external) John Kearsey announced he would be resigning Dec. 3.

“We thought it was interesting and it was definitely not [done] at a time that’s good for admin, whether [the resignation] was due to the strike or it was decided before.”

“The External Relations team will continue its outstanding, award-winning work in philanthropy, alumni relations, marketing communications and government relations,” Kearsey said in a statement.

“Leaving [Kearsey’s] position open, which is the public-facing VP, when the university is dealing with students and faculty and the community who are all calling on them to end the strike places [admin] in a difficult position by not having someone to deal with those areas.”

“While tough — because I honestly love this place — the time feels right at this age and stage of my career and life in general.”

Alex Rana, a member of Students Supporting UMFA (SSUMFA), pointed out the inopportune timing of Kearsey’s departure.

As vice-president (external), Kearsey’s role was to secure both public and private support and uphold the university’s presence in the community at large.

Rana condemned the administration’s messaging during the strike.

“From what we’ve seen being put out into the public and on social media, it’s been very dismissive towards students. It’s been a lot of reposting the same message, thinking that all the comments students had on their original posts would just go unseen.

“Students know what the truth is.

Students see when [admin] is making those types of decisions. A lot of what [SSUMFA has] been doing, especially early on when the strike was starting, was clearing up some of the messaging that admin was putting out towards students.”

Rana doubts the sincerity of the administration’s concern for its students. “[The administration is] trying to show concern for students’ mental health, but also, they’re the ones who have created the situation that has led to our winter break being taken

photo / Basel Abdelaziz / staff

Students Supporting UMFA raise concerns about future communication from admin

away. It just comes across as very disingenuous.”

news@themanitoban.com

Women in agriculture connect students and researchers RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY Emma Rempel, staff

The faculty of agricultural and food sciences is hosting its mentorship program for a fifth year. The program is run by Siobhan Maas, program coordinator, and Annemieke Farenhorst, professor in the department of soil science and the associate vice-president (research) for the University of Manitoba.

The program assigns two mentors in the field of agricultural sciences, one from industry and one from academia, to each student. Mentees are largely undergraduate students who are early in their careers. Mentors provide career guidance and emotional support to these students as they navigate their education.

“The agriculture mentorship program facilitates beneficial relationships between students (mentees) and mentors,” said Farenhorst in a statement.

“These relationships can be extremely impactful and provide students with a dependable resource to connect with and call upon whenever they need advice or just an ear.”

The mentorship program was started in 2017 when Farenhorst held the position of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council chair for women in science and engineering in the Prairie region. She envisioned the program as a supportive and empowering network for women in a male-dominated field.

Recent studies have shown that

experiences of gender bias pervade STEM fields. Women may first experience bias or discrimination during their undergraduate studies.

According to Farenhorst, there is a relatively equal gender representation within the student body in the faculty of agricultural and food sciences.

However, this is not true of the staff, which is largely male. The shortage of women in leadership roles can result in a lack of role models for women, which can have a negative effect on job satisfaction and retention of women in academia and industry.

graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff

Mentorship program fosters relationships between students, professors and industry

both sides.”

One proven way to encourage women to persist in STEM fields is through mentorship. Institutions that prioritize formal mentoring options have been found to have higher rates of participation and retention for women.

Participants have said the benefits of the program are mutual. Mentees appreciate the career-related support and guidance they receive, while mentors receive satisfaction from the relationships they build with both students and colleagues.

The role of the mentor is to advise mentees on how to navigate the explicit and implicit rules of social interactions in science. Mentees learn networking skills and practice public speaking, and in a time when most conferences are virtual, that experience can be hard to come by.

“Mentors enjoy the opportunity to connect and find they also benefit by learning from the mentees — it is about being part of a community of women supporting women,” said Farenhorst.

“What I find key is that this program connects mentees with a mentor who is committed to providing that leadership,” Farenhorst said.

“Students/mentees never have to feel that they are encroaching. They know that the program is designed to provide them with a dependable relationship that is committed on

“It’s all about forming connections,” agreed Maas.

Maas describes the program as participant-led, relying on feedback from both mentors and mentees to guide changes to the program every year.

Activities have largely consisted of casual gatherings, meeting in pubs or for dinner. These included virtual craft nights and rapid-fire question periods, where participants have two

minutes to discuss a topic and then move on to the next person.

The informal nature of the meetings is necessary to break social awkwardness, leading to more meaningful interaction between mentor and mentee. Trust is critical for mentor-mentee relationships so that students can ask for help and advice without fear of judgment or criticism.

Funding for the program will end in 2022, but the organizers would like to continue into 2022-23. To be able to do so, students must demonstrate a demand for the program.

Those who are interested in participating in the program next year should email Maas at Siobhan.Maas@umanitoba.ca.

research@themanitoban.com

5

the

est. 1914

MANI

TOBAN

PhD student contributes to project renaming hominins Making the case for decolonizing paleoanthropology RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY Michael Campbell, staff

Joshua Lindal, an anthropology PhD student at the University of Manitoba, is part of a research team that has proposed a new species name for a human ancestor that lived half a million years ago.

Unsatisfied with the monikers of Homo heidelbergensis and Homo rhodesiensis, Lindal’s research group has argued for their retirement. In their place, the group advocates that many H. heidelbergensis fossils be grouped with the existing Homo neanderthalensis and H. rhodesiensis be reclassified into a new group called Homo bodoensis.

under the designation of H. heidelbergensis that exhibit Neanderthal traits should be reclassified as H. neanderthalensis. Likewise, fossils currently under the designation of H. rhodesiensis should be reassigned to the new designation H. bodoensis.

Lindal has been working with a group of researchers studying early human ancestors. The group includes Mirjana Roksandic, professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Winnipeg, and Predrag Radović, research assistant in the department of archaeology at the University of Belgrade.

To understand why specific species names need to be suppressed and others proposed, one must first understand the species problem. Species don’t exist in nature. They are a scientific construct w i t h s i g nifi-

“We used to think about this straight line from Homo erectus to archaic humans to modern humans today,” Lindal said.

H. bodoensis refers to the site of Bodo D’ar in modern-day Ethiopia, where the fossil specimen “Bodo 1” was discovered. The new H. bodoensis is situated in time after H. erectus and the most recent common ancestor to all living humans. This would mean that H. bodoensis is an ancestor to H. sapiens, but not H. neanderthalensis.

“We used to think about this straight line from Homo erectus to archaic humans to modern humans today.

And now we’re realizing that of course, it’s way more complicated than that” — Joshua Lindal, PhD student other as potential mates […] even if they are technically fertile, if they don’t actually breed together, then they’re fundamentally reproductively isolated.”

Ultimately, the deciding factor in determining whether a group of organisms are one species is scientific consensus.

“And now we’re realizing that of course, it’s way more complicated than that.”

Much of the research leading to this proposed name change stems from fossilized teeth. Lindal’s PhD research focuses on teeth in early human ancestors. Teeth are interesting to scientists because they are harder than bones, are more consistently found at field sites than bones and are under strict genetic control.

Our species’ lineage is by its very nature exploratory. Early humans covered more land than previously expected, meaning conceptions of discrete proto-human species may not be as accurate as once thought.

“A lot of people probably imagine that all of our biology is under very strict control, but in reality, development will interact with our environment as we grow up and it’ll modify the way our genes get expressed,” Lindal said.

H. heidelbergensis got its name from the city of Heidelberg, Germany, where a workman found a fossilized mandible in 1908. The mandible had traits of both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, so scientists declared it a new species. The authors argue paleoanthropologists have tended to categorize most fossils from this time period under this one species name.

H. rhodesiensis was named after the colonial African state of Rhodesia, which in turn was named after British colonist Cecil Rhodes. The fossilized skull known as “Rhodesian Man,” from which the species was described, was found in what is now Zambia in 1921. However, the colonial history of this name alone is not enough to invalidate its usage, according to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

Lindal’s research group has proposed these species names are inaccurate.

In the cases of H. heidelbergensis and H. rhodesiensis, the authors argue fossils from the period are scattered and poorly understood. This has resulted in haphazard designations which have failed to stand the test of time.

The authors argue fossils currently

6

The strict genetic control of teeth allows researchers to track the relationship between Neanderthals and modern humans.

The categorization of hominin species remains hotly contested in part, Lindal argues, because we care more about humans than we do about other animals.

d de

cant limitations.

To preserve the usefulness of this categorization tool, scientists have proposed more than 30 species concepts — or definitions — of the category.

One common conception of species uses the biological species concept, which states that organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring are grouped into a single species.

The problem with this conception

i ov

l da

ua

ag

e

/

/

pr

n Li

sh Jo

im

behaviour.

is that it fails to account for

“Like in birds,” Lindal said, “maybe they sing in different mating calls. So, they don’t have sex with each other because they don’t recognize each

“The paleontologists are like, ‘Why are you splitting hairs on this?’”

Lindal said. “‘They’re all humans, they’re all the same species.’”

“And it’s because we care about humans more than other animals […] so we’re trying to get a better resolution on humans. But in the end, we end up using different criteria for categorizing humans than we use for categorizing other animals.” research@themanitoban.com

Campus Ministry

Christ the King Chapel, 70 Dysart Road University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB R3T 2M6 Canada

MASS SCHEDULE SUNDAY MASS | 11:00AM, December 5, 12, 19, 26, January 2 WEEKDAY MASS | 11:45AM, Wednesdays CHRISTMAS EVE MASS | 8:00PM, December 24 Watch Our Virtual Mass Stream: Facebook.com/stpaulscollegeuniversityofmanitoba CONTACT: ELIUDE CAVALCANTE

Director of Campus Ministry Room 221, St. Paul’s College 204-474-8645 Eliude.Cavalcante@umanitoba.ca FR. COLIN PETERSON Priest Chaplain Room 222, St. Paul’s College 204-474-8460 Colin.Peterson@umanitoba.ca

the

est. 1914

MANI

TOBAN

The strike is an inconvenient necessity for students Power-tripping administration must be set straight for students’ sake

EDITORIAL From a student’s perspective, it can sometimes be hard to see the conflict between the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA) and the University of Manitoba as anything but a massive inconvenience. Some classes continue undeterred with others unceremoniously called to a halt with no rhyme or reason from student to student. Graduation dates are in jeopardy — a nightmare for international students and those with postgraduation jobs lined up — and there is a real danger the winter term reading week will be lost if the strike goes on much longer.

A number of incidents have further eroded the relationship between UMFA, the university administration and the provincial government since then, and the effect is palpable. In 2016, as I remember it, the mood was determined but apologetic —

have happened so close together that older students like me can remember them vividly. In both cases, the issues raised by UMFA have been fundamentally linked to common student complaints like office hours or quality of instruction.

students actually interact with on a day-to-day basis. The disparity was even more glaring during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the campus was empty yet students continued to pay fees for on-campus resources we couldn’t use.

Regardless of one’s opinion on the amount of money faculty members

Tuition pays for the salaries of both the faculty and the administration, but only one of these two are sending out press releases with misleading or outright incorrect information.

One group shut down UM Learn, the other pushed for reinstatement so students could continue to study during the strike. It’s hard not to draw conclusions about the two sides’ relative opinion of their audience’s intelligence and who exactly wants students to keep learning.

In addition, the sheer uncertainty of the situation is exhausting. Students don’t know when our regular course loads will return, and we don’t know how much notice we will have when they do.

Many students have been debating picking up extra shifts at work — to pay tuition, no less — but can’t commit because they don’t know how long they’ll be available.

The per-hour working world does not look kindly upon uncertain schedules liable to change with very little notice, especially this close to the holidays.

And what of the courses themselves?

For many subjects, it’s difficult to jump back in after no class time for several weeks. Students are faced with the choice of trying to claw back familiarity lost over the strike or voluntarily withdrawing from the class through no fault of their own, both of which could have serious consequences for their degree plans.

It is exactly this frustration, this feeling of helpless impotence, that should push every single student at the university to support UMFA and the strike.

I was a student during the 2016 strike, which lasted for three weeks and resulted in a one-year agreement with no salary increase. It was UMFA’s first strike since 2001, which only lasted four days.

8

The strike is an awful situation for students, but it is one that needs to happen in order to make the U of M worth attending. A university consistently shying away from paying its employees an appropriate wage and a province prone to interfering in academic matters to maximize profit over education is not a constructive formula.

If the U of M continues to treat its faculty with such little respect, students will have little hope to build a more equitable institution.

the academic strike was a new and frightening concept to most students, and both UMFA and the university made significant efforts to explain what was happening and maintained an outwardly friendly relationship.

It was as if two parents who had a fight were reassuring the little ones everyone still loved each other — disagreements sometimes happen, and everything would be okay.

But this disagreement has gone on for years now, and what seemed like a small fight has escalated to full-blown resentment. UMFA and its members are no longer interested in reassurances. Today, the overwhelming impression is one of bitter indignation, acrimonious exasperation.

UMFA has had enough.

Frankly, so have I — the last two strikes

make, the simple fact of the matter is that U of M wages are embarrassingly low compared to other universities.

Students are losing opportunities to connect with and learn from the brightest minds in every discipline because the pay isn’t worth it for academics to come here. Why would they? Any student working a parttime job would never choose the minimum-wage job over the one offering a few dollars more an hour, and academics are no different. Even the ones already employed at the U of M are leaving in search of better opportunities.

And still, tuition fees have risen for the past three years and international students are consistently treated like cash cows. Where is all that money going? It’s certainly not going to the educators — the people

This dispute is a chance to push back against frustrations students have been raising for a long time. It is important that students capitalize on this moment and demand the quality of education we deserve by forcing the administration and provincial government to answer for their actions.

The strike may seem like it has little benefit to the condition of students’ lives, but we have a unique opportunity to leave the U of M better than we found it.

graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff words / Sarah Doran / staff

WWW.UMSU.CA

Social icon

Circle Only use blue and/or white.

For more details check out our Brand Guidelines.

@MyUMSU

UMSU EXECUTIVE OFFICE HOURS (Fall 2021)

Emily Kalo

Brendan Scott

Savannah Szocs

VP Community Engagement

VP Advocacy

President

VP Student Life

VP Finance & Operations

MON @ 12:00 PM

TUE @ 3:30 PM

FRI @ 12:00 PM

THU @ 1:00 PM

WED @ 12:30 PM

Tino Dogo

2021 Holiday Hamper Program www.umsu.ca/holiday-hampers-2021

UMSU Holiday Hampers

Brook Rivard

est. 1914

the

MANI

TOBAN

More questions than answers in speech from the throne Trudeau’s partisan games preventing a clear pathway for Parliament to work COMMENT

Ivan Nuñez Gamez, volunteer staff The Liberal Party of Canada pitched itself as the progressive option on the campaign trail, but the speech from the throne on Nov. 23 lacked bold new ideas.

Instead of emphasizing challenges of Canadians — such as the absence of universal pharmacare or ending fossil fuel subsidies — the new Liberal government presented a plan that lacks vision and heavily relies on past promises that have yet to be fulfilled.

Though the speech carried a cooperative tone, the New Democratic Party (NDP) was not buying it and questioned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s stance as a progressive.

Over two months after a heavily criticized snap election, Parliament has reconvened and a Liberal agenda that outlines the party’s priorities has been put forward. The long-awaited speech from the throne was received critically by most party leaders. The speech was incredibly short, lacked clear details on an action plan to achieve legislative goals and was vastly similar to past throne speeches.

The Liberals overused collaborative language and exploited supposed common ground they possess with opposition parties as leverage to gain appeal among members of Parliament — a move that left a sour taste in the mouths of the opposition.

Despite the adversities Canadians are facing, Trudeau’s speech from the throne brands the inflationary problem as a problem relating to COVID-19, suggesting that it does not require any response. In fact, inflation is only mentioned once throughout the speech. But the economy was not the only shortcoming in the speech.

New social welfare policies were evidently lacking. Liberals are marketing their few successes without much vision about what it needs to continue to do for Canadians. The party openly gloated about providing affordable child care to nine provinces and territories but ignored any discussion about universal pharmacare, which has been in past throne speeches.

Studies have proven providing universal pharmacare is a win-win situation that not only improves the quality and accessibility of health care but could also save the Canadian economy billions of dollars. Despite the benefits, the Liberal party has, of late, turned down the idea.

months. Liberals sold themselves as the only viable option that would both prevent the Conservative party from forming a government and bring forward progressive policies. Where are those promises? By playing it safe with a speech from the throne, the Liberals are displaying strong partisanship despite its minority situation.

Being a progressive is far more than a fancy word used to attract voters — it is a moral stance for better justice, equity and safety. Trudeau must stop talking and start acting.

Besides just embracing co-operation and finding common ground among party leaders, the speech from the throne displayed a very general message that left Canadians wondering if Parliament will be able to function adequately in the coming

The Liberal party’s action to counter

graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff

The Conservative party emphasized the potential economic repercussions the Liberal spending agenda could

cause and maintained that Canada is facing an inflation crisis. Inflation is currently at an 18-year high and despite being in line with what economists predicted, Canadians are starting to face the consequences.

Costs of gasoline, groceries, energy and housing are skyrocketing, causing the wealth gap to grow every day.

climate change — an issue the party indicated was one of its top priorities — was eagerly questioned by the NDP due to the Liberals’ lack of effort to end fossil fuel subsidies. These subsidies cost taxpayers $3.3 billion annually and are paid directly to coal, oil and gas companies to pollute. Despite committing to stopping financing fossil fuel projects outside the country by the end of 2022, Trudeau is not leading by example. Ending fossil fuel subsidies would not only benefit the fight against climate change — it would make much more funding available for social welfare programs.

comment@themanitoban.com

10

the

MANI

TOBAN

Dec. 1, 2021

Fishers are not the cause of Lake Winnipeg’s condition Fisheries a convenient and inexpensive scapegoat for PC ambitions COMMENT

Lucas Edmond, staff Although it was surprising that efforts to improve Lake Winnipeg’s deteriorating condition were included in Manitoba’s most recent speech from the throne, it is unsurprising that the speech glazed over real and concrete solutions about how the Progressive Conservative party (PC) plans to do so.

comes close to burying the ecological crisis the lake is currently experiencing. In many ways, by emphasizing fishing, the PCs are redirecting the public’s gaze from more expensive, but necessary, solutions. Perhaps it is yet another bid to make Manitobans believe Premier Heather Stefanson is different from Brian Pallister’s administration. Politics is truly a game of checkers for Manitoba’s PCs.

In the speech, the PCs made only brief reference to Lake Winnipeg, making it seem like it was only worth mentioning as a means to avoid the party’s age-old conflict with environmentalists. “We cannot allow Lake Winnipeg to be polluted any longer, and we must protect species like our moose population from threats,” the madame speaker said on behalf of the PCs. The speech then outlined that the PCs would invest in the Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Fund Act to supposedly improve the lake’s condition. By doing so, the government pawned off Lake Winnipeg’s pollution to Indigenous fishers and fisheries who rely on the lake for their livelihoods.

Fisheries have been under-managed for decades, meaning investments toward making the industry more sustainable via consultation with local stakeholders are crucial. However, if we are playing a zero-sum game — as it seems the PCs are keen to do — radical investment in curbing nutrient pollution must be prioritized. The life of Lake Winnipeg depends on it.

graphic / Marina Djurdjevic / staff

Although additional investments into the management and regulatory structures that oversee sustainability practices on Lake Winnipeg would be useful, it is by no means a project that

Overfishing is still a threat to the lake, especially considering species like the sauger have virtually collapsed in the past decade and the walleye population is rapidly dwindling.

However, are fisheries primarily to blame for the diminishing spawning rates among these species? Absolutely not. Fisheries and Indigenous fishers are more of a convenient target if anything.

Many officials, with little connection to Lake Winnipeg or the communities

that line its coast, suggest fishers are the problem. Discourse in these circles often labels fishers as if they have no regard for the environment they depend on. Many of the reports these officials rely on are from ecologists who look at natural phenomena in isolated sample sizes, but these researchers often have little experience analyzing the social dynamics of the lake — the intimate knowledge that locals have about the lake’s ecology, and their care for its condition, may surprise officials if they were attentive enough to ask.

Instead of blaming fishers for the lake’s pollution, the government ought to direct its criticism inward. Fishers from the north basin of the lake have complained about Manitoba Hydro’s destructive presence for decades.

Northern Indigenous communities that rely on commercial fishing have noted that the erosion and nutrient pollution caused by hydroelectric dams have struck the industry hard.

Just decades after the Jenpeg Generating Station started regulating Lake Winnipeg’s water levels in 1970, algae levels were reported to have quadrupled. Researchers have contended that runoff and erosion caused from the sporadic flooding from the hydroelectric dams have resulted in damaging levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, which algae relies on to grow. Once the algae die, its decomposition sucks up oxygen from the

surrounding lake and may kill fish in the process.

Manitoba has made efforts to reduce nutrient pollution, but in ill-advised and damaging ways. For example, in 1990 researchers cut off all sources of nitrogen while leaving phosphorus untouched. This nitrogen-reduction project cost the government more than a billion dollars and 25 years after its conception the project was found to have had a damaging effect on the lake. Why? Because some algae can produce its own nitrogen — primarily dangerous and neurotoxic cyanobacteria. As a result, the project likely killed off less dangerous algae and overwhelmed the lake with rapidly growing rates of this deadly algae which has been known to damage fish populations.

Beyond nutrient pollution, Manitoba Hydro also decimates fish populations by regulating lake levels. Large swaths of fish eggs die when exposed to air, and this has a impact on spawning seasons.

It seems the PCs are continuing their horrific environmental legacy by making investments that likely won’t curb enough harmful pollution to save the lake. Instead, the party is producing the very conditions that it is exploiting for political capital. In fact, in the throne speech, the PCs contradictorily glorified Manitoba Hydro as “the crown jewel of our Crown corporations” just before asserting Lake Winnipeg must be protected.

To be fair, Manitoba Hydro is far from the primary driver of nutrient pollution — that title belongs to the Red River and Winnipeg’s waste-water management. However, its impacts are far from null and blaming fishers before Manitoba Hydro is a political oversight almost worth laughing at.

Historically, Manitoba has treated Lake Winnipeg as a sink for resources, citing the lake’s economic value as motivation to maintain its ecological integrity. But this approach means sustaining the bare minimum of environmental standards to ensure its supposed value does not diminish.

The result of this approach is a policy of perpetual catch-up — pollute as you go and fix the problem later. That is exactly what the PCs are doing when they blame the sustainability practices of fishers for the lake’s pollution and utter humble praises for Manitoba Hydro in the same speech.

Investment in fish management is a minor technocratic solution to Lake Winnipeg’s declining fish populations, but it does little to combat the dangerous conditions we are exposing the lake to. If the government doesn’t focus on nutrient pollution soon, there won’t be any fish left to manage.

comment@themanitoban.com

11

est. 1914

the

MANI

TOBAN

Government making U of M less competitive LETTERS

Brendan Scott, UMSU president Why attend the University of Manitoba? It’s a question that can be asked in two contexts: why does the U of M seemingly feel weighed down by political decisions of the provincial government? And why should a student come to the U of M despite these struggles? Within the past five years, the U of M has been affected by two strikes, one strike threat, three straight years of tuition increases and budget cuts that took international students off the provincial healthcare plan.

In 2016, the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA) went on strike for 21 days. A year later, the provincial government mandated the U of M to freeze wages. This is one of the primary reasons UMFA declared this year’s strike.

Since professors started seeking the compensation they deserve, the university began feeling the pressure to

bring UMFA members’ salaries up to appropriate levels and to compensate lost wages. This dispute has put a great burden on students, so it wouldn’t be surprising if future students were wary of attending a university that cannot guarantee basic education.

In 2018, the provincial government decided to cut international students out of the provincial health-care system. As a result, international students now have to pay for private insurance independently. The U of M has over 6,000 international students enrolled in any given term and prides itself on being a great place for international students to attend post-secondary studies in Canada.

With this added cost, students will likely look to other provinces for their post-secondary education — a majority of which continue to keep international students in their provincial health-care system.

For the past three years, students have seen tuition increase by 14.1 per cent. With the difference in tuition gap becoming closer and closer, we will see more students leave to other top ranked U15 universities simply because the gap in tuition isn’t large enough to compensate the difference in education. This increase in tuition is linked to the provincial government cutting the university’s budget the past three years.

Why are these things happening? The government believes it is looking out for the best interests of the province.

However, raising a productive province should mean building the next generation of workers up, not tearing them down. Without proper consultation about students’ concerns, our institution will lose key demographics and enrolment will become less competitive. With students looking elsewhere, so will large swaths of Manitoba’s labour force. This short-sightedness will surely lead to the overall decline of Manitoba. The future looks bleak, but

graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff

Provincial legislation consistently targeting students for the worse

these problems can be solved with the reinstatement of international students on the provincial healthcare system and less government interference.

Brendan Scott President, University of Manitoba Students’ Union

letters@themanitoban.com

Help move our city in the right direction.

Share your thoughts on the proposed strategic approach to the future of transportation in Winnipeg.

Visit winnipeg.ca/tmp2050 to: • Learn about the key directions and draft strategies we think will help move Winnipeg’s transportation network in the right direction • Take an online survey about the key directions and strategies • Register for one of four topic-specific online workshops If you require alternate formats or interpretation to participate, please contact tmp2050@winnipeg.ca or 204-927-3444 (ext. 231).

12

the

TOBAN

MANI

Dec. 1, 2021

’Toban cornertable ARTS & CULTURE Grace Paizen, staff

The saying goes that Canada has two main exports: hockey and comedy.

Though a blatant generalization of our country, it’s not an understatement to acknowledge that one of the Canadian comedy giants — particularly one oozing of Canadiana — is Rick Mercer.

As the pandemic brought comedy to a near standstill, Mercer took to a new project, writing Talking to Canadians: A Memoir.

Where the title sparks memorable highlights of his This Hour Has 22 Minutes segments and special Talking to Americans, the memoir is not full of past experiences duping Americans into believing Prime Minister Jean Poutine endorses them.

In fact, known for rereleases of his past books with added content, Mercer’s new memoir is, refreshingly, a jaunt through his past, from growing up in Newfoundland and Labrador to his time on This Hour Has 22 Minutes

to his incubating new solo show that would become the Rick Mercer Report.

This isn’t to say some favourite, previously shared stories aren’t in the book.

Mercer reshares the fabulous story of his mother Pat, switching from the Bank of Montreal to the Bank of Nova Scotia on the spot when a banker with the Bank of Montreal suggests he’s first going to call her husband to “see if he’s okay with [her] getting a new car.”

In fact, Mercer adds to Pat’s legend of always being ahead of the times by remembering how she refused to let him be an altar boy, regardless of her own Catholic upbringing. Simply, as Mercer had explained to his friend and his friend’s mom who was to take him to church at the time, “Mom doesn’t want me around the priests.”

Thank you, Pat. Though not a cover-to-cover barrage of laughs, which is immediately foreshadowed by the book’s prologue of Mercer sharing the story of being told

to “[p]lease leave the theatre” because he has “nothing to offer” by a critic, the memoir has classic Mercer humour sprinkled between the memories.

Most interesting is how Mercer’s budding experiences with live theatre shaped his now renowned universal appeal of bitingly political comedy and a Canadiana sense of humour.

His tale of his high school theatre production that was written specifically for a St. John’s audience getting no laughs at the Newfoundland and Labrador high school theatre festival in Gander, N.L. locates how early on Mercer learned the lesson of knowing his audience.

Taking this experience with him for the rest of his life, he has most mercifully used it during his career “to avoid being Toronto-centric.” Thank you, Rick.

Mercer’s ability to find the humour in such a broad spectrum of events — from the hellscape that was the Canadian fitness award program in physical education classes to nerve-wracking moments on a flight while visiting Canadian troops in

image / Doubleday Canada / provided

Rick Mercer — ‘Talking to Canadians: A Memoir’

Kabul, Afghanistan — is as admirable as it is entertaining.

The virtual book launch on Dec. 2, hosted by popular Canadiana figure Alan Doyle, forecasts an enjoyable evening.

In a palpably notable absence from the Canadian scene during the tumultuous last few years of both Canadian and world political events, it is nice to have Mercer back in some comforting form.

Talking to Canadians: A Memoir is available at major retailers. arts@themanitoban.com

The spectre of Shakespeare ARTS & CULTURE

Shaylyn Maharaj-Poliah, staff This winter, Shakespeare in the Ruins (SIR) presents a remounted production of Shakespeare’s Will, written by Winnipegborn playwright and two-time Governor General’s Award winner Vern Thiessen. The play’s original run was in early 2020 during ShakespeareFest, the final iteration the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s Master Playwright Festival. It was filmed for the screen on the mainstage at Prairie Theatre Exchange with video direction by local filmmaker Sam Vint. Uniquely, tickets to the show are “pay what you choose,” with price options ranging as low as $1 and as high as $10 before processing fees.

The one-woman show focuses the oft-forgotten wife of William Shakespeare. Upon receiving his last will and testament from his terse sister Joan, Anne Hathaway — no, not that one — reflects on the lives they built over the years, both together and apart.

In a recent press release, SIR’s artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss revealed that he was enchanted by the performance the first time he saw it in its original run.

“I found myself deeply moved by the tenderness, the love and the

sensuality of the production,” he said in a press release.

“I knew I had to bring this show back to life through Shakespeare in the Ruins. I needed more people to see this production and to feel the magic that I felt.”

Told through what is known as “object theatre,” Hathaway — portrayed by Winnipeg actor Debbie Patterson — uses numerous props, such as twigs and stones unearthed from a wide, elevated sandbox, to illustrate the narrative. The symbolism is obvious — the tiny twig that represents Hathaway is dwarfed by the heftier piece driftwood that represents her husband. Under the excellent direction of Eric Blais, these objects come alive as she tells the story of “not a mother, but a woman.”

“By focusing on Anne Hathaway, the play demystifies and de-centres Shakespeare from his own story, and we begin to understand the truth and the real cost of [achieving] immortality,” said Beilfuss. “The play is a deeply poetic and often hilarious meditation on love and loss, peppered with historical facts and incredible imagination.”

Imagination that wasn’t difficult to

provided / Leif Norman / provided

Digital production of Shakespeare’s Will explores love and loss

muster thanks to the superb camerawork, which emphasized and framed the sea of sand and the props it contained as though they were human actors. A standout moment that occurred later in the play was when Patterson created a likeness of Hathaway’s husband using nothing but sand. The resemblance was truly uncanny.

end.

Thiessen’s script is dynamic and dreamlike, full of tight, artful prose and rife with imagery of the ocean — so much so that it almost becomes another character in the story.

Patterson’s delivery of Thiessen’s words is rich and robust.

Equal parts charming and heartbreaking, Shakespeare’s Will is 90 minutes of pure theatre magic that gives a voice to one of history’s more enigmatic figures.

There is subtle, sharp wit in Hathaway bringing Shakespeare down from his exalted place, delicious irony in describing him as “a man of few words” and proclaiming that “the sea was a far better lover than [him]” — a phrase that takes on a very dark, troubling new meaning at the play’s

The only detractor of the performance was the music during the scene changes. Though it was pleasing to the ear, it seemed to have been added during the post-production of the recording and the volume drowned out some of Patterson’s accompanying lyrics.

Shakespeare’s Will runs digitally until Dec. 5. To learn more and for ticketing information, visit shakespeareintheruins.com.

arts@themanitoban.com

13

est. 1914

the

TOBAN

MANI

The Manitoba Loud Music Awards rock downtown Winnipeg Inaugural event organized by all-local team ARTS & CULTURE The Bulldog Event Centre hosted the first ever Manitoba Loud Music Awards (MLMAs) to great success over the weekend of Nov. 19 to 21.

Organized by Badlands Promotions of Portage la Prairie, Man. and Frozen Fire Studios, the awards ceremonies were accompanied by live performances from Manitoban bands in the loud music genres with three bands performing each night.

Overall, 17 awards — sponsored by Brazen Brewing Company — were given to prominent members of the local loud music scene. Votov received

“We just hope to grow this and do this every year and support our musicians, whether they’ve been in it for six months or 10 years or 20 years” — Dag Aymont, founder

the award for Metal Album of the Year, Maiden Manitoba went home with the award for Tribute Band of the Year and Paige Drobot was honoured with the award for Guitarist of the Year, just to name just a few.

The MLMAs were created by Badlands Promotions founder Dag Aymont, who said the awards ceremony has “been kicking around for about four

14

image / Badlands Promotions / provided

Zoë LeBrun, staff

or five years in my head.”

“Last year, I had mentioned it to my Winnipeg promoter and he had said he was totally down to help out and we’d started organizing it, but then [COVID-19] had shut it down,” he said.

“This year in January, we said we were doing it one way or another.”

The MLMAs are based on an entirely fan-based nomination and voting system.

“The fans made the nominations and as long as the band accepted or the artist accepted, then they made the nomination list […] as far as who wins, it was all voted on the website over the month of September,” Aymont said.

Aymont also discussed the MLMAs’ goals and his personal connections to Manitoba’s loud music scene.

“I grew up in the music scenes, I grew up in a musical home and I’ve been surrounded by musicians my entire life,” he said.

“I’m a musician myself and I just always noticed that the heavier music scene doesn’t get a lot of recognition. We wanted to recognize all the hard-working musicians in our form of genre.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic continued to be one of the biggest hurdles Aymont and his team faced while planning the MLMAs, it wasn’t the only one.

“I’ve been a promoter for years, Badlands Promotions has been running since 2015 and we’ve never done an event like this,” Aymont said.

“So, it’s been all new, putting together a committee and having each person’s individual input and kind of working together on it to make it roll properly.”

Another challenge Aymont faced was finding media outlets that covered and supported loud music genres in general.

Although organizing the MLMAs was not without its difficulties, Aymont mentioned the support they’ve received from musicians, fans and those who helped put the events together has been the highlight of the MLMAs for him. “[Winnipeg promoter] Tommy [Suver] and I built this committee of people, amazing people who have gone above and beyond to help run this smoothly,” Aymont said.

“It’s also a big celebration for everybody involved — the bands, the musicians, us, the sponsors,

everybody.”

As for the future, while Aymont and the rest of the Badlands Promotions team plan on holding the MLMAs annually, the awards ceremonies may look different year to year — the largest of these changes would likely be a drop from a three-night agenda to just one night based on the amount of awards presented each year.

“We won’t have a lot of the awards in future years that we have this year, just because […] how many albums are going to release [in Manitoba] over the next year as opposed to the last three? […] We won’t have rock album, hardcore album, punk album, metal album because there’s probably only going to be four or five albums released.”

“We just hope to grow this and do this every year and support our musicians, whether they’ve been in it for six months or 10 years or 20 years,” said Aymont.

“I really wanted these people to feel appreciated and honoured.”

arts@themanitoban.com

the

TOBAN

MANI

Dec. 1, 2021

A local love fest Winnipeg record label holds first live showcase ARTS & CULTURE The Good Will Social Club was lit purple on the night of Nov. 20 for the first live showcase of the House of Wonders roster.

The label was started by leader of art rock luminaries Yes We Mystic Adam Fuhr in early 2020, alongside the launch of his studio of the same name.

Although the label has been steadily releasing projects from its three signees — alt-country troubadour Amos the Kid, indie rockers Julien’s Daughter and the inventive folk rock band Virgo Rising, the beginning of the label coincided with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made for a strange early growth period.

Fuhr said “[r]unning the label has been very solitary laptop-y work, and I know for the bands it’s been hard to release their music in the world without that human connection. So, to watch people come together and have such a great time was very emotional for all of us.”

The show sold out almost instantly when advanced tickets were released, which took Fuhr by surprise. The enthusiasm in the room was palpable.

“We knew we had some heat but didn’t realize quite how much,” Fuhr said.

Openers Julien’s Daughter started the

photo / House of Wonders / provided

Alex Braun, staff

night with a bang, running through a blisteringly energetic set full of early ’00s dance-punk energy, exemplified by their cover of the Franz Ferdinand classic “Take Me Out.” Frontwoman Emma Murphy’s dramatic stage presence adds to that vibe, with a touch of Karen O or Debbie Harry about her. The crowd was very receptive, moshing and stagediving and yelling lyrics.

shocking ease. The band’s music has a similarly unstable tension, always taking unexpected turns, with tempo changes, sudden freak-outs and wild dynamic changes. Their emotional intensity and more timid stage presence clashed slightly with the frenzy that Julien’s Daughter whipped up, but you didn’t have to look too far to find fans singing along and giving the band the attention they deserve.

Virgo Rising took the stage next, quieting the room with a run-through of their excellent debut EP Sixteenth Sapphire as well as a few new songs.

Lead singer Emily Sinclair’s voice is really a force of nature, able to jump from hauntingly intimate near-whisper to glass-shattering belting with

The great Amos the Kid — the first signee to House of Wonders — headlined, delivering a very strong set with songs culled from his two EPs. The crowd yelled along to tracks like “Jesus Cocaine Ketamine Christ” and “You Make It So Easy,” which already feel like local classics. Amos reflected

on his past job as a bar-back at the Good Will, which is odd to imagine given the ease and comfort of his stage persona — he really looks like he belongs up there.

For all three bands, Saturday felt a like coronation of sorts, a raucous party celebrating all the work that Fuhr and the artists have put in over the past year. Though they seemed slightly taken aback by the rabid audience, they were prepared to throw that same level of energy right back at them.

arts@themanitoban.com

Bisons impress in Canada West championships SPORTS

Isaiah Wagner, staff The University of Manitoba Bisons took to the pool this past weekend for the 2021 Canada West swimming championships.

Hannah Schanel finishing second in the 50-metre freestyle and Daniel Boguski finishing second in the men’s 50- and 100-metre freestyle.

The event headlined a three-day meet with races staggered throughout the weekend. The Bisons were well represented all three days by swimmers in the men’s and the women’s categories.

With the weekend wrapped up, nobody’s swimming career is more impressive than Wog’s.

Kelsey Wog and Dora Modrcin in particular were superstars, both finishing high in their respective categories.

Modrcin finished third in the 50-metre butterfly, third in the 100-metre freestyle relay, second in the 100-metre backstroke and first in the 50-metre backstroke. Wog finished third in the 100- and 200-metre freestyle relay, first in the 200-metre individual medley and first in the 50, 100- and 200-metre breaststroke.

Other notable performances included

She started by swimming in the Youth Olympic Games in 2014. There she placed fifth, sixth and eighth in various swimming events.

Wog then moved on to the FINA world championships in 2016, where she placed second in the 200-metre breaststroke.

In the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she competed in the women’s 100and 200-metre breaststroke. Her 23rd and 16th place finishes prove that she can compete with the best of the best around the world.

graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff

Wog the highlight of Bisons swimming team

Wog said the experience is a huge boon when competing in events such as the Canada West championships.

“My Olympic experience is key when swimming,” Wog said.

“To improve constantly, you have to compete against the best and I feel that is important. By swimming in the Olympics, it has allowed me to better myself and learn a lot from other swimmers.”

Although she would like to finish first in every event she participates in, that will not always be the case. She did extremely well in such a highly

competitive event.

“This feels amazing to participate in an event like this,” Wog said.

“I have been training my whole life for this and to be here is unbelievable.

I am very proud to represent the University of Manitoba and swim with all the great people.”

sports@themanitoban.com

15

est. 1914

the

TOBAN

MANI

Women’s hockey splits tight-checking weekend series SPORTS

Matthew Merkel, staff The University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team split a two-game series against the University of Alberta Pandas Nov. 26 and 27, winning game one 2-1 and losing game two 2-0.

experience that,” said Rempel.

The Bisons got off to a shaky start in game one. On a delayed penalty, the Bisons were looking to regroup in their neutral zone with the net empty.

Unfortunately for the herd, the pass back was sent about two feet wide of the defender’s stick and into the empty net, giving the Pandas a 1-0 lead.

Preparation for FISU has been a lot of work for Rempel. With the ongoing UMFA strike adding a bit of extra stress to his day-to-day, the last few weeks have been hectic for the coach.

A member of UMFA himself, Rempel and his team have been closely following the strike. However, once the puck drops, his players have kept their focus away from the negotiation table and on the ice.

In the second period, the Bisons evened the score. On the power play, Bison forward Halle Edwards took a pass on the goal line and drove far side on Panda goalie Halle Oswald, evening the score 1-1.

The Bisons began to take over early in the third period. Seven minutes into the frame, third-year forward Vanessa Klimpke intercepted a Panda clearing attempt and quickly slipped it to her linemate Molly Kunnas. The Bison forward made no mistake, burying it past a sprawling Oswald to give the Bisons a 2-1 lead.

The herd maintained possession, playing much of the period in the Pandas’ end, holding them to only seven shots.

The Pandas launched a late-game attack by pulling the goalie in the final seconds but were unable to mount a comeback, losing its fourth game in a row.

With the win, the Bisons tied the firstplace Mount Royal University Cougars with 16 points apiece. Considering the herd played a condensed exhibition schedule that only included two games against a team at the U Sports level, Bison coach Jon Rempel has been pleased with how his team started this season.

“With a young team like this, we don’t have a lot of volume of games. We hardly played an exhibition, so you know we’re just trying to make our way week to week,” said Rempel.

“Today was […] probably the most complete game this season. I just really like the way we played today.”

Selected to represent Canada at the 2021 FISU Winter Universiade, Rempel will be travelling to Lucerne, Switzerland alongside women’s hockey captain Lauren Warkentin, men’s hockey player Colton Veloso and equipment manager Matt Relf.

Having previously coached Canada in 2015, Rempel is excited to take part in his second FISU games and is delighted that Warkentin and Relf will also be able to experience the event.

“I’m really happy for Lauren obviously, and happy for Matt […] that they get to

16

“I’ve done it before and I kind of know what to expect but for me I’m just really excited to help the group and help the student athletes have a great experience.”

“They’ve done a really good job, we haven’t talked about it much,” said Rempel.

photos / Matthew Merkel / staff

Last series of fall term, Bisons tie first-place MRU in points

Bisons players celebrate after Molly Kunnas scores to make the score 2-1 for the Bisons.

“I am in UMFA, so I’m doing double duty and they understand that it’s not easy for me. So they’ve made it actually very easy for me to come here by just being prepared, and they understand the situation so they’re handling it very maturely.

Game two was a physical affair for both teams. Tight checking between the teams kept the score 0-0 throughout the first period and much of the second.

The Bison forwards had a tough time entering the Pandas’ zone. The Panda defenders did an excellent job plugging up the middle ice, applying an effective neutral zone forecheck, helping the Pandas force turnovers and regain puck possession.

Bison goalie Kimberley Davidson made her third start of the season for the herd. The Bison athlete of the week for Nov. 21 was kept busy throughout the game, facing 20 shots in the first two periods and stopping numerous breakaways early on to keep her team in the game.

Bison forward Madison Cole takes a shot on Pandas goalie and Sanford, Man. native Halle Oswald.

With only seconds left in the second period, the Pandas struck. Taking advantage of a poor Bison line change, Panda forward Jadynn Morden sniped a shot over the shoulder of Davidson to make it 1-0 with less than a second left.

Midway through the third period, the Pandas would make it 2-0. Off a scramble in front, the puck shot out to the right of Davidson, where secondyear Panda Payton Laumbach fired it into the wide-open net.

The Bisons attempted a comeback, pulling Davidson late in the period.

They were unable to even the score, giving the Pandas their fifth win of the season.

The Bisons’ series against the Pandas was its last before the winter break. They next play the MacEwan University Griffins Jan. 14 and 15 in Edmonton, Alta.

Halle Edwards scores the first Bisons goal of the weekend on Halle Oswald. sports@themanitoban.com